I’m a few days late to the party, but The Atlantic is hosting Alan Taylor’s 11th annual Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar, a favorite around here. I used to talk about space a lot more, but things like this still get me (those are all mostly galaxies):

“The mass of this galaxy cluster is large enough to severely distort the spacetime around it, creating the odd, looping curves that almost encircle the cluster. These graceful arcs are examples of a cosmic phenomenon known as an Einstein ring. “

And via Kottke, I found A Christmas Movie A Day, which so far has featured great writing, old movies I want to add to my list (and also Batman Returns), and this gif of Katherine Hepburn dancing to bongos: